18 DECEMBER 1925
The Safeguarding of Industries (Customs Duties) passed second reading in the House of Lords.
The House of Commons discussed the Board of Education’s Circular 1371.
The Rent Restriction (Scotland) Bill and the Police Pensions Bill were withdrawn in the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that the Secretary for Scotland would be raised to the status of a Secretary of State, and that legislation to give effect to this would be introduced next session.
The decision taken by the Council of the League of Nations in the question of Iraq and Mosul, the frontier between Iraq and Turkey, and the British mandate in Iraq was announced in Parliament by the Prime Minister. The award, he said, involved no departure from the policy adopted and announced two and a half years ago.
Mr Lloyd George addressed a Liberal demonstration in London on the Urban Land Report. He urged the need for reform in urban land policy in order to redress the grievances from which traders suffered, to deal with the traffic problem, and to clear away slums. The job of the Liberal party was to fight the wrongs of which he had spoken. That might not be the shortest way back to the Treasury Bench, but it was a sure way back to the hearts of the people.
Princess Mary named the new battleship, H.M.S. Rodney, which was launched successfully at Birkenhead.
Sir George Gibb, a native of Aberdeen, who was in the forefront of British railway organisers and pioneers, has died in London.
In the Scottish Temperance Act polls in the Lanarkshire parishes, the “dry” areas of Cambuslang and Rutherglen and the limitation area of Stonehouse became “wet.” Further limitation was carried in Avondale.
The Committee appointed by the Ministry of Labour to inquire into certain legal, financial, and economic aspects of the Scottish shale industry met in Glasgow, when a plea for a spirit of friendly co-operation was voiced by the Chairman.
Giving evidence before the Coal Commission, Lord Gainford said that the suspicion that the coke industry was bleeding the coal mining industry through the transfer price for coal was artificially created. If coking coal were put on the open market, it would fetch a much lower price.